Robotics and artificial intelligence developments continue to impact the geopolitical landscape. This week saw developments of a new space race around robotics and AI, a rising star in the Middle East, and discussions about ethics for autonomous vehicles.

Robotics Business Review has partnered with Abishur Prakash at Center for Innovating the Future to provide its readers with cutting-edge insights into recent developments in international robotics, AI, and unmanned systems. Are you ready to be updated?

Space race boosted by AI, robotics

Robotics development: An AI assistant called Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (CIMON) has been designed by Airbus and IBM to support astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). CIMON is the size of a medicine ball but packs the power of IBM Watson. It can respond to voice commands and has been programmed to have a “friendly face.” It will operate on the ISS from now until October 2018.

CIMON against the backdrop of the International Space Station. Credit: IBM

Geopolitical significance: It’s clear that a new space race is underway between world powers, and AI and robotics could define who wins.

Facing large ambitions from these countries, robotics companies have a huge opportunity in front of them. Governments need ways to achieve their space-race goals, and robotics and AI will increasingly be the main way to do this. Because the 21st-century space race isn’t just between two countries (originally the U.S. and Soviet Union in the 1960s), robotics companies have more options to work with governments from around the world.

But this shouldn’t deter companies in this space race. For the U.S. especially, robotics and AI may influence U.S. power in space more than anything else.

When the ISS is decommissioned in the 2020s, China will have world’s only space station. The U.S. has banned Chinese astronauts from using the ISS – will China respond in the same way? If so, the U.S. might need robot astronauts to compete in the space race.

Countries mull ethics rules for self-driving cars

Robotics development: Earlier this month, ABC sent out a notification to people using its app. The notification was a question that asked users, “You’re in a driverless car when three people run onto the road. Your car will injure you instead of them. Do you agree with that?”

This sparked a huge discussion on social media about the kind of ethics self-driving cars should have, and how they should make decisions.

Geopolitical significance: With the fatal Uber crash a few months ago, followed by several high-profile accidents involving Tesla vehicles in autopilot mode, ethics for self-driving cars is becoming more important. The main question: how should a driverless car behave in a situation that threatens human life?

Countries are also “importing” rules from other countries. In March 2018, China announced that it would “likely” adopt some German rules around self-driving cars. Might this include German ethics? If so, it would be a new kind of exchange between China and Germany.

For robotics companies, the big challenge isn’t just complying with what governments are doing today, but with what governments might do tomorrow. For instance, in 2017, the U.K. launched a “review” of its road laws to ensure self-driving cars come on roads by 2021. What kind of changes might the U.K. make?

Following Brexit, as nationalism in the U.K. grows, the British government might mandate that foreign car companies load their self-driving cars with British ethics if they want to sell into the U.K. What will this mean for car companies like General Motors, Baidu, and Uber? Will foreign governments be okay with this?

Robotics businesses must think about ethics as a global issue, not a local issue. Otherwise, these businesses could be disrupted by brash policies that threaten their stake in what could be a $7 trillion industry by 2050.

Dubai and the UAE are poised to become a robotics and AI giant. Credit: Deposit Photos

Geopolitical Significance: The UAE is an AI power, and this gives it a new kind of geopolitical influence. But how did the UAE become an AI leader? What exactly is the UAE doing that other countries aren’t?

For policy makers thinking about what kind of framework to create to fuel AI, the UAE should serve as a blueprint. For robotics businesses thinking about which countries will be future hubs for robotics/AI, look no further than the UAE.

Abishur Prakash is a geopolitical futurist and author focused on how new technologies, such as AI, blockchain, gene editing, and virtual reality will transform geopolitics. He works at Center for Innovating the Future, a strategy innovation lab in Toronto. Prakash advises multinationals, governments, and startups. He is the author of three books: Next Geopolitics, Vols. 1 and 2, and Go.AI (Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence). In addition to RBR, Prakash's work has been published in Forbes, Scientific American, and Newsweek.